Floor selector for elevators



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jap. 26, 1959:

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Donald H. Baum A OR Y April 7, 1942,- D, H. 'BAUM 2,279220 moon SELECTOR FOR ELEVATORS Filed Jan. 26, 1939 ZShee'tS-Sheet 2 4 Insulation) 75 40 41 70 64 71 Insulation 79 -72" am a; a? J 59 45 44 46 5o Insulation WITNESSES: 1 INVENTORI Wwg v Donald H. Baum.

Patented Apr. 7, 1942 V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOOR SELECTOR FOR, ELEVATORS Donald H. Baum, Ridgewood, N. J., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Elevator Company, Jersey City, N. J., a corporation of Illinois 3 Claims.

My invention relates to elevator systems, and more particularly to the floor selectors utilized in elevator systems for connecting the various circuits of the push buttons, indicators and control devices in accordance with the position of the cars with reference to the landing floors they serve.

One object of my invention is to provide a floor selector which shall be simple and inexpensive to construct, operate and maintain in operation, and which shall be small in size and capable of being mounted in any desired position adjacent to the elevator.

Another object of my invention is to provide a floor selector which shall require a small amount of power for its operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a floor selector in which a large number of contact members may be provided for each floor, and in which the contact members for each floor may be operated either sequentially or simultaneously and may be arranged to be either closed or opened when operated.

For a better understanding of the invention,

reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a top plan View of a floor selector constructed in accordancewith my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the floor selector shown in Fig. 1, with some of the contact members removed to permit a view of the travelling nut embodied in the selector; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view taken on the line IIIIII of Fig. 2 illustrating the construction and mounting of the contact members and travelling nut embodied in the floor selector.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I have illustrated a floor selector comprising a plurality of stacks of contact members Ill and II for each floor, a travelling nut l2 for operating the contact members, a screw-threaded shaft 13 for operating the travelling nut, a motor It for operating the screw shaft, and a pair of guide rails I5 and I6 for guiding the travelling nut and supporting the contact members mounted upon a frame represented by the angle irons I! and Hi.

The motor [4 is mounted upon. a base plate 19, the outer end of which is secured to the angle iron I! and the inner end of which is fastened to a block by a plurality of blocks 2| and 22.

The block 20 is mounted between the inner ends of the guide rails l5 and I6 by a pair of bolts 23 and 24. The outer ends of the guide rails are mounted in and secured to a bearing block 25 by a bolt 25. The bearing block is supported on the angle iron l8 and is secured thereto by a bolt 21. This arrangement of the rails l5 and IS, the blocks 20 and 25, and the plate l9 provides a bridge-like structure constituting a firm support for the motor and the working parts of the selector.

The screw-shaft I3 is mounted in axial alignment with the armature shaft of the driving motor and parallel to the guide rails. The inner end of the screw-shaft is telescoped on the armature shaft and fixed thereto to rotate therewith by a set screw 3!. The outer end of the screwshaft is supported in a bearing 23 in the bearing block 25. Hence rotation of the motor will cause rotation of the screw-shaft.

The travelling nut I2 is disposed on the screwshaft and is provided with an internal screwthreaded surface 32 to engage the screw-threaded surface 33 of the screw-shaft. A plate 34 is mounted on the face of the travelling nut and is provided with a downwardly extending arm 35 and an upwardly extending arm 36. The lower end of the arm 35 is bent inwardly to support a roller or wheel 31. The wheel 3'! is rotatably mounted on the arm 35 by means of an axle bolt 33. In mounting the nut on the screw-shaft, the wheel 3'! is disposed between the guide rails l5 and [6 so that they will guide it to prevent rotation of the nut l2 when the screw-shaft is 0perated and thereby force the nut to travel along the screw-shaft in accordance with the rotation of that shaft. The roller 3! is dimensioned slightly less than the distance between the guides 15 and it so that it will be in contact with only one guide at a. time depending on the function of the worm drive 32.

The upper end of the arm 35 is bent inwardly to support a pair of rollers or wheels 43 and 4|. The wheel is rotatively mounted on one corner of the arm 36 by an axle bolt 42 and the wheel 4| is rotatively mounted on the other corner of thearm 36 by an axle bolt 43 in position to operate successively of contact members as the nut moves along the shaft.

A plurality of U-shaped brackets 44 are secured to the under edges of the guide rails l5 and is by a plurality of machine screws 45 and 46 for supporting the stacks of contact members. The brackets are illustrated as disposed on the guide rails at equal distances apart and there is one bracket for each landing floor to be served by the selector. The outer ends 4'! and 48 of each of the brackets are bent upwardly to provide supporting arms upon which the stacks of contact members may be mounted.

The stacks of contact members are similar to the stacks or groups of contact members utilized in telephone work and which are known in that art as telephone finger pile-ups. Each of the stacks I and H (see Fig. 3) comprises a plurality of insulating blocks 5|], in which are mounted a plurality of pairs of cooperating spring contact fingers such as the fingers 5| and 52. A pair of cooperating contact members 53 are mounted on the inner faces of the fingers 5| and 52. A spacing finger 55 is mounted in the insulating blocks 5|] and disposed to limit the inner movement of the finger 52 when the fingers are operated. An insulating plug 56 is disposed on the outer end of the finger 5| to provide a means by which the finger may be operated to close the contact members 53. Similar pairs of cooperating contact fingers 51, 58 and 59 with operating plugs, are mounted above the fingers 5| and 52 and as many more pairs may be added as desired by stacking one pair upon another.

A pair of machine screws 60 and 6| pass through the insulating blocks 50 and the base portions of the spring fingers and the spacing arms into the arm 48 of the bracket 44 to hold the stack of contact fingers in position on the bracket.

The base ends of the spring contact fingers extend outwardly as at 62, to provide suitable connectors for the circuits to be controlled by the contact members.

A finger operating arm 64 is mounted upon the upper end of the bracket arm 48 by means of a pair of rivets 65 and 66. also mounted upon the bracket arm 48 to limit the inner movement of the operating arm 64. A rounded button 10 is mounted on the outer end of the arm 64 by means of a rivet H to extend into the path of the wheel 4| on the travelling nut so that movement of the travelling nut into position opposite the button will cause the wheel to engage that button, push it and its arm 64 outwardly, and thereby move the plug 56 on the spring arm 5| to close the contact members 53. The movement of the plug 56 causes a like movement of the insulating plugs on the fingers 5! and 58 and thereby closes their contact members simultaneously. The insulating plug 12 is made somewhat shorter than the other plugs in the stack so that the pair of contact members 59 will be closed a trifle later than the pairs of contact members 51 and 58. By means of this construction of the plugs, I am able to secure a simultaneous operation of the contact members 53, 51 and 58 and the sequential opera tion of the contact members 59.

The movement of the travelling nut along the screw-shaft also moves the operating wheel into engagement with the button 13 on the operating finger I4 mounted on the bracket arm 41, and thereby operates the stack of telephone finger pile-ups ll mounted on the arm 41.

In some installations, it may be desirable to cause the contact members, or some of them, to open instead of close when operated by the travelling nut. As shown in Fig. 3, this result may be secured by mounting the contact mem bers 16 in closed position on the contact fingers l1 and 18. extending the finger 18 and mounting the insulating plug 19 thereon to be actuated when the stack II is operated. The limit finger B0 is disposed to limit movement of the contact finger 11. With this arrangement, the contact members 16 will be opened when the contact A spacing arm 61 is members Bl are closed by the operation 01' the selector.

Although the screw-shaft is illustrated as operated by the motor l4, it may be connected to an elevator for operation in any other desired manner. It will also be apparent that the motor 14 may be operated in various ways, for instance, as shown in the C. E. Ellis, Jr., Reissue Patent 19,805, granted January 7, 1936, and assigned to the Westinghouse Electric Elevator Company. In this patent, the motor is given a step-by-step operation; that is, it is rotated a certain distance whenever the car with which it is associated approaches a floor. When this step-by-step operation of the motor is used, the brackets 44 may be mounted on the guide rails at equal distances apart. However, if the screw-threaded shaft is so connected that it operates not only in accordance with the car serving the floors but also in accordance with movements of the car, then the brackets must be spaced apart on the floor selector in accordance with the distances between floors.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have provided a floor selector in which the rotation of the screw-shaft will cause a travelling nut to move along the shaft and sequentially engage and operate stacks of telephone finger pileups in accordance with the position of the car with reference to the floors it serves. It will also be apparent that the floor selector occupies only a small space, that it is simpl and inexpensive to construct, that the number of contact members for any floor may be easily increased or decreased or removed and replaced, and that the contact members may be operated either closed or opened either simultaneously or sequentially.

Although I have illustrated and described only one specific embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that modifications thereof and changes therein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. An elevator car floor selector comprising a frame, a pair of rails mounted on the frame, a plurality of U-shape brackets mounted on the rails with their outer ends extending at substantially right angles to the rails, a stack of telephone finger pile-up switches mounted on each bracket arm, a spring operating finger mounted on each bracket arm in position to operate the telephone finger pi1e-up switches on that arm when moved outwardly, a screw-threaded shaft rotatably mounted between the bracket arms on the frame in parallel relation with the rails, a traveling nut mounted on the shaft, a projecting member on the nut for engaging the rails to prevent rotation of the nut, means for rotating the shaft to move the nut along the shaft, an arm disposed on the nut to extend between the spring operating fingers on the brackets, and projecting members disposed on the sides of the arm for engaging the operating fingers on a bracket when the nut is moved between the arms of that bracket and thereby simultaneously operate the opposing stacks of switches on that bracket.

2. An elevator car fioor selector comprising a frame, a screw shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, means for rotating the screw shaft, two rows of switch-operating arms mounted on the frame in parallel relation to the shaft, each switch operating arm in each row being independent of the other arms in that row and being disposed opposite to and facing a similar arm in the other row, a switch mounted adjacent to each switch-operating arm in position to be operated by movement of that arm, a plurality of associate switches mounted on each of said first-mentioned switches in position to be operated by operation of that switch, a traveling nut disposed on the shaft, and a cross arm on the nut disposed to extend between and operate simultaneously any two oppositely disposed switch operating arms when rotation of the shaft moves the nut thereto.

3. An elevator car floor selector comprisin a frame, a, screw shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, means for rotating the screw shaft, two rows of switch-operating arms mounted on the frame in parallel relation to the shaft, each switch arm in each row being independent of the other arms in that row and being disposed opposite to and facing a similar arm in the other row, a switch mounted adjacent to each switchoperating arm in position to be operated by movement of that arm, a plurality of associate switches mounted on each of said first-mentioned switches in position to be operated by operation of that switch, a traveling nut disposed on the shaft, means for preventing rotation of the nut to cause it to move along the shaft when the shaft is rotated, a cross arm on the nut disposed to extend between the two rows of switch-operating arms, and rollers disposed on the cross sides of the arm for simultaneously engaging and operating any two oppositely disposed switch-operating arms to actuate the switches associated therewith when the nut is moved thereto.

DONALD H. BAUM. 

